A few months ago several of the fashion blogger-influencer type people I follow, The Frugality, Chloe Loves To Shop and Belle and Bunty were all sporting a Topshop red floral frill skirt. I’ve vowed to add a bit more colour to my capsule this year and very slowly red has started to slip into my wardrobe so I too decided the skirt would be mine.
I get to Topshop to find the said skirt was absolutely miniscule. As in walk down the street and flash your knickers type of short. Luckily for me my Topshop had the tall version so I ended up sizing up two sizes and going for the longer length. I get the skirt home and am tremendously pleased with myself. I mean this skirt is sold out in a multitude of sizes. Chloe Loves To Shop is wearing it. I have bagged it and aren’t I stylish?
Then I get home and show my husband and he says ‘it’s very different to what you normally wear. I like it but it’s a bit of a change’ And then I realise James didn’t know me when I was eleven. The last time I wore a skirt like this I was a tween. Is a teeny frill skirt really appropriate for a thirty-something?
I still can’t work out if I actually like the skirt. In my book this should mean it’s returned straight away as when you only have a limited amount of clothing in your capsule there’s no room for garb that makes you dither. However the thrill of bagging a coveting item really gets me and if all those folk loved it, shouldn’t I?
I recently returned a Next red maxi beach dress I’d also copied off several other bloggers. I realised I’d probably wear it once on my holidays and then roll it up never to be worn again. It was a little too bold for my liking and if it had been in a more subdued blue I think I would have got a lot of wear out of it.
One much coveted item I have had a lot of wear out of is the Monsoon victoriana blouse which the world and his wife were wearing earlier this year. I’ve worn it in the office and out to dinner several times. I suppose that’s one thing I’ve completely disregarded in my bid to get some lust-worthy fashion, what will the cost-per-wear be?
So ladies, are any of you guilty on splurging an ill-fitting, not-your-usual-style items because they’ve become must-have items? What copied threads are hanging in your wardrobe that never see the light of day? Did anybody else get the Topshop red floral frill skirt too?
The skirt really suits you – you look fab! It’s definitely a keeper!!
I fell in love with that navy polka dot Bardot topshop dress that the likes of The Frugality and Kate La Vie were wearing but couldn’t find it online or in store anywhere! I probably wouldn’t have worn it much, but it was just so pretty!! xx
That’s sweet to say. Thank you. Well I’m in Sardinia at the moment and said skirt is sat at home. I forgot EVERYTHING for this trip and figured on hols would be the only time I really wore it so the skirt has missed it’s chance!
The polka dot dress is a beauty Kate. Hope you manage to get your hands on it.
I just clicked the link thinking “i bet Topshop have styled it with a crop top” …yup! 😭😭
It’s cute! And I actually think you could get wear out of it through to the end of the year. With a black leather and ankle boots it’ll look sweet; and in this weather I think all you need is a close fitting white vest – clean and simple, so the frills can do all the work.
The only things I usually buy because of instagram are pretty interiors (pointing the finger at you lady) or clothes for E.
The Topshop thing does remind me though of when Kate Moss first launched her range around 10 years ago. I would buy ANYTHING I could get my hands on and apart from a handful of pieces they’ve gathered dust in the loft since! x
Karen I did the 10 years ago too!!!!! I sent nearly all of it back mind, but my sister still has “the” yellow one-shoulder dress.
I have this dress too! Not a chance in hell I will fit into it ever again but I can’t bear to get rid of it given how over the moon I was to nab one! x
Do you remember when all her stuff used to go on eBay the day after launch for triple the price?!
Oh Kate. We do love you so.
Haha I do! Your skirt reminds me of the red pansy tea dress everyone went mad for… see, it’s a classic! x
I had the pansy tea dress! Loved it.
I tried on that skirt and it was miniscule! I loved the print but at the wrong end of 30 and a size 14 I wasn’t pulling off the frills. You look fab though! In fact the only reason I was even in Top Shop which I gave up on years ago – was to purchase a Boyfriend jacket as reccomended in one of Charlottes posts recently. That – I bagged, whoooop!
Ths year I have bought a patterned Maxi skirt from Next which I was worried would be a bit ‘Mumsy’ but I went down a size and with a white vest – loving it!! Totally not my usual style.
Babealicious! 😍
I coveted that skirt too but it was indecently short (I’m 5,9). I do have the red floral Topshop wrap dress from last season (blatantly copied Ashley from A Mothers Edit) which is so not me but I absolutely love it.
I love this skirt on Lauren – and I bet you look lush in the dress Lynsey. Random fact, Ashley and I knew each other years ago and could both be seen clubbing in various skimpy outfits in Miss Moneypennys……I’m sure I actually wore just a glittery bra with leather trousers once 😳
What a small world! And there’s nowt wrong with a glittery bra and leather trousers, if you’ve got it, flaunt it!
Ooh I do like that skirt – it looks great on you! Plus I now may totally copy you and buy the monsoon Victoriana blouse….just trying to choose a colour, then find a vest to go underneath, before I pop it in my virtual basket.
I bought the grey M&S funnel neck, fluted sleeve jumper that was all over instagram this winter. I bagged the last size 10 in my store…. and I’ve literally never worn it, labels still intact. With 3 kids, its just not practical as those fluted sleeves hang in everything. Darn!
Hope you’re enjoying Sardinia! Can’t wait for our August summer holiday there – plus I’ve already requested via Instagram a full blog of your travels 😉
Link to impractical M&S jumper:
http://www.marksandspencer.com/funnel-neck-flute-sleeve-cropped-jumper/p/p22505635?&pdpredirect
Love that jumper Nicola. Might be a bit hot for Sardinia 😉.
We’re having such a fab time – you really are going to love it! X
I think that skirt looks great on you Lauren. I can totally see it with ankle boots and a sweater so I think it would last you well into autumn/winter too. I don’t think the frills are too juvenile – the flamenco-ish shape adds a bit more sophistication than that! It might be one of those pieces you just need to adjust to and then you’ll grow to love it.
Having said that, in the past I’ve been horrendously guilty of buying stuff for the wrong reasons and never wearing it! Trying to be more disciplined now, but I still think I’m failing to build a successful capsule wardrobe. 🙂
Enjoy Sardinia, jealous!
Thanks Tracy 😘
Just to add my two pence worth. I’m actually put off by clothing items I see frequently on instagram but weirdly not necessarily interiors. Becky and I were having this discussion the other day over gin.
Lauren – that skirt looks fab on you, I love the way it looks casual/cool with the T and denim jacket x
I’m also put off by clothing items that are coveted or published everywhere. I’m currently wedding dress shopping and had found a few dresses I liked that then seemed to feature in every Rock My Wedding post which has completely turned me off them. Think I like to feel I’m being original! Haha
The skirt looks lovely on you though Lauren and I think if you look and feel good in it then it shouldn’t matter where it’s from or who is wearing it.
RMW always has the best dresses though 😉
So exciting you’re dress shopping. Hope you find the one soon x
I am all for a frilly skirt Lauren! I am quite a girly dresser so it wouldn’t look unusual on me but I completely understand how you feel in regards to certain fashion trends being appropriate when you get to 30. But as far as I am concerned, if Zara has frilly skirts available (for the stylist 30 something women) then I think it is completely fine for you to wear one from Topshop. I happen to think you look super cool! and Fun! xx
I think this too Vanessa, it’s almost as if some whole shops are perceived to have to be given a wide birth once you hit a certain age but actually, it’s more to do with the pieces themselves surely? For me it’s always about a good fit/how confident it makes you feel. I have a lovely frilly dress from Topshop that my sister bought me, I perhaps wouldn’t have picked it up if I’d been left to my own devices x
Haha I saw that maxi dress from Next in a magazine recently and thought oooooh and then thought when do I ever wear long sleeved maxis!?
I love The Frugality – her Insta stories just now making me jealous.
As someone who has bought a couple of things after seeing Charlotte recommend (ASOS spikey pumps, Oasis cardi to name but two) I have been guilty on occasions but luckily they’ve all been fab and suit me.
I’ve recently, and rather ridiculously, only discovered that I should always buy from the Tall range because things fit me properly – I am 5″11 so not sure why this didn’t occur to me sooner!
I like the skirt on you – keep it and rock it!
When I took the maxi dress back the assistant asked why I was returning. I just said it was a bit too, well, red!
Hoping the tall range has opened up a whole new shopping extravaganza for you! X
I personally don’t like it and think its just a bit bleurgh…not on you just as a stand alone piece. Going against the majority but I say return! LOADS of sales on at the minute so buy something else!
Thanks for the honesty PB!
I’ve got a couple of midi ruffled skirts (New Look and Zara) and midi pleated skirts (H&M x 2) which I have loved wearing this summer – and the good thing is, summer’s not even over! Definitely recommend the longer version if you want to wear frills without feeling little-girl frilly (so much fun as you walk down stairs and the frill wafts up a bit). Plain tee/linen blouse and you’re away.
Great post! I was actually thinking pretty much the same lately after also buying that red dress 😅 it was awful on me. Husband thought it looked like some kind of Monk’s attire! Got me thinking that I have been too influenced lately by Instagram and feel like I am losing my own style judgment.
I think the skirt looks great on you
I LOVE this post (only just catching up). I am totally guilty of this, I get that same feeling as you, buying something that is coveted and getting the rush, kind of like being in the cool gang. Especially as they seem to sell out so quickly. Most of the time, I wonder, would I actually have bought this if I hadn’t seen it on Instagram and I feel like I am changing my style or loosing my own style. Also this is crazy but sometimes I see something I LOVE in the shops and I think hmm wonder why this isn’t all over Instagram instead, almost like I have found my own treasure or maybe I question why this isn’t the new insta craze?! Its madness really.
I am actually deliberating at the moment over a dress from Next, the peasant style black short one I saw on the frugality and a couple of other bloggers and I am totally in that frame of mind….would I usually buy this and am I just buying it because of Instagram. xx
I am 68, short and overweight. My wardrobe is mostly black and gray. When I see something I like, I buy a piece in that color. A lime green necklace, a leopard print scarf. When I saw the new lace patterned jewelry, I bought a pair of earrings with that lacy look.